Outdoors: New indication of trouble for house finches, once prone to devastating eye problems

Monday

Jan 27, 2014 at 11:08 PMJan 27, 2014 at 11:36 PM

Mark Blazis Outdoors

Spencer naturalist, farmer and kennel owner Susan Watson recently reported two disturbing sightings of house finches with eye problems at her feeders.

Not native to our area, eastern house finches were originally trapped in southern California and brought to New York for illegal cage-bird dealers to sell. Their attractive red markings and beautiful song made them quite popular. They were introduced to Long Island in the 1940s when the illegal sale of them was halted and large numbers of them were subsequently released. The very social, constantly moving "Hollywood finches" spread rapidly. To the delight of many, they readily nested on and around suburban homes, wherever they found protection.

In 1955, the first house finches were recorded in Massachusetts. In the early 1990s, they were locally abundant, flocking by the dozens daily to my feeders. More than one Christmas Count sector in the state then totaled more than 1,300.

But during the winter of 1993-94, their population in Virginia and Maryland began to crash as mycoplasma gallisepticum, an avian conjunctivitis previously known to infect only poultry, spread rapidly at feeders where they congregated.

Infected birds developed swollen, runny eyes that crusted over. Many of the blinded finches quickly starved to death or became easy prey to predators, especially sharp-shinned hawks that often feed on birds at feeders. Some survived, though, and moved on to other areas. The deadly bacterial infections soon after hit Massachusetts. We lost most of our house finches to it.

House finches seem to be exceptionally susceptible to disease compared to native species that also attended feeders with them. That weakness may be a result of their population having originated from a small number of inbred, pet-store birds with little genetic diversity. But some species of native feeder birds, including American goldfinches, purple finches, evening and pine grosbeaks — all members of the same family — have been infected by conjunctivitis, though to a far less catastrophic degree.

Recently, house finches seemed to be making a comeback, so the symptoms Watson reports bear close watching. England has recently lost a large percentage of its bird-feeder-attending finch species because of diseases there. By not keeping birds' feeders meticulously clean, we may be inadvertently killing them with kindness.

Watson additionally apprised me of another concern. Like many rural residents, she is all too often the recipient of unwanted cats dropped off by thoughtless people.

Just prior to our first brutal cold snap, another stray kitten was let loose on her land. "She's No. 54 for me." Watson matter-of-factly noted. "First thing, I had to get her checked out at the vet's. People that release cats into the wild don't think of the dangers to them, whether being killed by coyotes or fishers, or just starving, or getting bites and diseases from other wildlife. I'm just happy to have caught her before the big storm and brutal cold hit. I'm sure she would have died."

Watson tries hard afterward to have them placed with people who will care for them as indoor cats.

Cold cuts numbers

Local Christmas Bird Count species numbers seem to be down this year. Extreme cold has been a major factor. With iced waters, waterfowl were few, and even gulls proved uncommonly difficult to find. Winter finches are far down compared to last year. Those who hoped to be treated to pine siskins, red polls, crossbills and grosbeaks, as we were last year, are much disappointed.

Fortunately, there were inspiring highlights, like bald eagles, rusty blackbird and lots of red-bellied woodpeckers, a southern species that has taken a tenacious hold here, thanks to global warming — and a snowy owl and northern shrike in Concord. The "butcher bird" migrates south rarely, and when it does, it's looking for birds and rodents to kill with its formidable beak. It will typically hang extra kills on thorny branches. I caught one, to my regret, years back at our bird-banding station. Its sharp bill cut right through my skin.

Regionally, we've had a few surprising rarities. A Kamchatka mew gull from Siberia recently appeared on Nantucket, along with a little gull, black-headed gull, and red phalarope. They came on the heels of a MacGillivray's warbler (a western species) in Lakeville, a Ross' goose in Ipswich, and a white-winged dove in Boston. There are rare treasures every winter for those who have the skill and endurance to look for them.

Save Shrewsbury trout

Local sportsman and T&G reader Larry Freed recently wrote of the imminent loss of one of our few remaining local native brook trout streams. DEP plans to issue the town of Shrewsbury a permit to continue pumping water from the well field fed by Poor Farm Brook, a designated cold-water fishery.

According to Freed, when the town pumps water, a section of the brook dries up and no trout spawn. Freed is hoping that fish and wildlife protectors and concerned residents can join forces to save the brook and its native trout.